Knowledge Library

Sales Made Simple

By Pieter Scholtz  leading business and executive coach and SAs Master Licensee for global franchise company - ActionCOACH

No matter what your product or service is you have to sell to stay in business. So you might as well make up your mind now to become a winner at the sales game.

So how do you convert a prospect into a customer? That is the million-dollar question that has eluded so many sales people over the years. Yet it shouldnt. Selling is simple. To really get to understand how you can dramatically improve youre selling skills - its necessary to first understand what selling is. Selling is nothing more than professionally helping people to buy. The key word here is professionally. Professionalism is the hallmark of a great sales person.

The more professional you appear, the more prospects will listen to what you have to say. People like dealing with experts in their field. They want good advice before buying. They are afraid of being caught by some clever salesperson whose only interest is to make money. Being professional isnt difficult. All it takes is a genuine desire to help others to buy and paying attention to detail in the following areas: Developing a good sales kit. Dressing well. Always being on time. Keeping in touch with your prospects. Doing your homework. Keeping testimonials. Building a rapport. Finding out what is most important to your prospect. Always following up. Asking for referrals. Saying thank you. Being consistent. Observe these rules and you will outshine the vast majority of salespeople.

Also to note that to sell is not to tell, its to ask questions to establish a need. Without a need for your product or service you are wasting your time.

Another important aspect of selling is to establish exactly who your target market is. Who are you trying to sell to? Failure to answer this will lead to a poor sales conversion rate. Knowing your target market will also enable you to communicate in a way that your prospects can relate to.

Here are four critical consumer facts:

An average company loses 50% of its customers every five years. The cost of replacing them can typically be 6-7 times more expensive. What this really means is that you get a whopping 600% to 700% bigger bang for your buck by retaining and marketing to your existing customers than to acquire new customers.

For every month that you don't contact or communicate with your client you lose 10% of your influence with that client. That means that you have to communicate with your clients every month, no matter what.

82% of all homeowners can't tell you the name of their real estate agent if they bought their home more than two years ago. Imagine the sales that are lost because they never maintained a personal relationship with their clients. And Im sure youll agree that this applies to many businesses not just real estate. So what strategies do you have in place to ensure that you maintain a personal relationship with your clients?

Just saying thank you to your clients will increase your business by 17%. Just do some mental arithmetic - what's 17% of your current profit? Now ask yourself whether or not its worth saying thank you? The important thing to remember here is that this is not an opportunity to sell. Its about the relationship.

A 5% increase in customer loyalty will yield 20% - 80% to your bottom line profit. There's lots of research to substantiate this. So what could you do with a 20% - 80% increase in your bottom-line profit?

Whats important to understand is that a buying decision is based on a mixture of fact and emotion which is due to human nature. What you need to work out is what percentage is based on fact and what percentage on emotion? This does vary according what is being sold but on average it is 20 percent logic to 80 percent emotion. This is vital to know if you want to be successful at sales.

Pieter Scholtz is the Co-Master Franchisor for ActionCOACH in Southern Africa. The fastest growing and largest business coaching company globally. Pieter and his partner Harry Welby-Cooke developed ActionCOACH across South Africa which now boasts 30 franchisees. He is also a certified, leading Business and Executive Coach. He has successfully assisted countless business owners to significantly grow their profits and develop their entrepreneurial skills. www.actioncoachsa.co.za / 0861 226224.

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